Old School Tech: Cannondale Fulcrum

Cannondale have always done things differently. They have never simply accepted the conventional logic, preferring to walk their own path for bike design. At their team camp in Finale Ligure in Northern Italy last month they had this beauty of a downhill bike out on display - David Vasquez's World Cup downhill race bike, circa 1998. Identical bikes were also piloted by Missy Giove and Anne-Caroline Chausson. The engineers behind this bike were clearly pushing the envelope of what was known and possible with these bikes, it also shows how far bike design has come since then in some ways, and hasn't changed much at all in others. We take a closer look...

First off: geometry. That's pretty slack and the chainstays looks pretty short, but for a modern bike that BB is way high. And yes, it's not what you'd call light.

What the hell? That's the first thing people usually say when they see the crank/drive arrangement. Like everything Cannondale did with this bike, there's a reason for it though and a singularity of focus you don't find too often. Look at those linkages for the suspension, do they look familiar? They should, as Santa Cruz and Intense (who license the design from Santa Cruz) use a variation of them for their VPP bikes today. Cannondale's engineers optimised the linkage to work with a specific chairing size, a larger or smaller ring would affect the performance, but their racers still wanted to be able to change their gear ratios to suit different courses, so this system was developed to keep that size constant.

There are five rings in all, but it is the ring on the non-drive side crank that drives the system, in the same way that the chainring(s) do on the bike sitting there in your garage. That power is then transferred by the first chain up to the sprocket sitting forwards and above it. A fixed axle transfers that power through to the sprocket on the driveside and a chain connects that to another sprocket sitting behind the larger driveside chainring. There is then a system similar to a freehub engagement to turn the main chainring as it is not directly attached to the crank arm. To adjust the gear ratios the team mechanics could change the size of those four sprockets driving the chainring - although it wasn't too popular with them as it was so complicated.

The "Super Downhill Moto Fork." What a name. Essentially it is two modern Lefty forks, bolted together at the crown.That means each leg has a complete, separate damping system. You can't see it because of the boots, but they don't use a round tube, like modern stanchions, instead they are square and use needle bearings instead of bushings. For this length of fork, Cannondale felt that the twisting forces from compression and braking compromised the kind of bushings every major manufacturer uses today and meant a loss of performance. This system of square tubing and needle bearings completely separates the vertical movement of the fork from the forces acting on it.

The idea of adjusting geometry at the headtube is nothing new - here you can see offsets in the headtube to help slacken out that headangle. They are custom-machined eccentric cups for the headset bearings to sit in to give a couple of degrees of adjustment. It's also worth noting the size of that headtube - Cannondale invented the 1.5" headtube as they realised the larger area meant they could build their frames much stronger. On this bike the fork uses a 1 1/8" steerer, which gave them the room for the offsets.

While some of the bike was well ahead of its time - the rear axle still had some way to go, as nobody had started using burly through axles at this time - that came with the next generation of their bikes.

I was a little kid when my older brother told me about the amazing and innovative mtb company called cannondale. I dreamed of flying off cliffs and jumps on them. By the time I actually started getting into mtb though they had really been eclipsed by a lot of other companies. They were still there but a lot of other great companies drew my eye away. It is nice to look back and see what we were drooling about.

The only new thing is carbon???? Do you not remember the crazy links and terrible suspension designs of the 90's? Everything now is so refined and proven, for the most part. And Carbon rules, not very new, except on DH bikes. Been on road bikes for years. I wouldn't trade today for the 90's ever.

yeah would be ace, I also think that all the old school DH bikes left out there should be paired up with one of todays world cup riders and a race organised to see how well they do, could be interesting..

Hipsters ride sessions demo's and v-10's, If you saw someone riding this down a hill it would be out of respect and the love of the sport and its history not just cause its the flavour of the month like skinny jeans, ray bans, undercuts, turnups, boat shoes, kony 2012 and who ever wins the next world cup race!

I think allowing a top pro ride such bike on a world cup, even practice might put a huge questipn mark on marketing efforts of all big names in the industry. I don't think a guy lik Gwincould win on such thing but top20 - maybeee?

Mah, forget it, when DirtTV went around pits and measured the weights of top pro DH bikes ending up with numbers around 38lbs, that still didn't stop weight weenies from going for the quest for sub 30lbs DH bike

clearly were to old and should know better i seen a new rotec the other day can believe the deviated away from what they were doing with the rl9 also another bike th test the spooky bandwagon or metal head can't remember the exact name of it steve real used to ride it

i still have old mtn bike action mags, with pictures of 'kooka' cranks, 'caramba' double barrel cranks, 'altek' brake levers with 'shark fin' for centering the cables.. those were the days when billet aluminum ruled, especially with purple anodize !!

I've got a friend that collects/restores old mountain bikes. He's got a mint condition Yeti DH8, several Mantis bikes (Valkyrie, Pro Floater, XCR, Flying V) and several Cunninghams, Fat Chance Yo Eddy, a couple of Manitous, etc. An awesome collection for sure. I'm sure if I asked him he'd be happy to have someone come out and photograph all of them.

I'd personally like to see a writeup on the Sunn DH bikes. Always liked those...

BS yourself. He'd put a Judy DH on it, who knows why or when, but if you're old enough to remember there were DH races before there were disc brakes. I can't remember what was on the back. I do remember thinking it was a damn nice riding bike, though, and that it would be a sweet AM bike, and wishing I had one myself.

Yeah thanks i remember those days very well actually right back to canti's, rockshox mag 21s and gt zaskars winning world cup dh, rts, lts.... lobo didn't have rear v-mounts, yeah judy dh did but the lobo usually had dho's or boxxers 151(both did have v-mounts though) BS back at you pal, but its not BS hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha tooool

The motorcycle division drove them into the ground. Joe had a serious " I am not going to fail" attitude and that was the beginning of the end of the original company structure. I knew the guys well, rode R&D for them testing the geminis and remember these bikes well.... I actually got one of the pre linkage ones at my shop and custom built it up for a good customer of mine at the time. There are pics of it on my page. The good old days !!

Cannondale was the first production DH Bike but they weren't the first to realize slack head tubes were best for DH. I remember hearing that the Sunn bikes were the first to use slacker head angles.
When Nico went from Sunn to GT he requested slacker angles, then everyone started doing it.

Protour: um NO... Actually the first produsction DH bike was the Answer DH frame (the one that looked like it had a set of fork legs -and DID- for seat-stays). Cannondale was in there pretty early, but they weren't the first, not by a long shot. GT, Yeti and Schwinn were some of the VERY first as well...

They had some other "questionable" firsts too... the two-shock DH rig was pretty awful, and they didn't earn the name "Crack'nFail" for nothing (this has NOTHING to do with their current bikes, only that when there weren't really any real "FR/DH bikes" being made "back in the day" and people were abusing XC bikes at the begining of our sport and Cannondale's weren't up to this... lots of tothers weren't either. They also had some bad luck early on with teir "real" Fr bikes not being up to the task of sustained abuse without sponsorship). I'm just bummed to see Cannondale COMPETELY dismiss our whole riding acene. The Claymore is great and all, but it's not real an FR or a DH bike, it's like they've only designed bikes now for the riders they sponsor... Chase doesn't want something a little burlier then the CLaymore??? I know he loves his HTs

Addersc that's a bit hardsh no? And sorry to point this out but I have many issues of dirt that feature the old skool rigs, granted they are the older issues (haven't bought a issue of dirt for many years now), but sure they had features on old skool dh rides. Maybe you have a different view on what old skool is. Either way keep it rubber side down!

I raced this bike for Cannondale in 98' and it was an incredible DH bike. It did weigh 58 pounds and needed to be on the mechanic stand more than I got to ride it, but it insitilled a tremendous amount of confidence in the rider. We could keep our feet on the pedals and just pedal through the corners, while other riders would be feet off hoping for traction. Lucky for me it hangs up in my office, and every time I see it it takes me back to that Awesome 98' season with Mylo, David, Oscar, and Missy, Dalton, Big Mike, Stephanie, and all the team staff. We made/had some wonderful memories.

Thanks for all the great comments. Not often does Cdale see love on the web. These bike were a challenge to build but keeping them running was easy. Please consider there were 7 riders on the dh team and took the three mechanics 1+ hours to swap tires for the mud. Forks were a challenge and the little shock got a serious workout. Rock ran a 900lb spring talk about fade! Axle for the rear came the next rev when I built them for dee max, a 15 non and a 12mm drive side it was cool. Another thing not many people know is we made three swing arms with different lengths to change chain stay length depending on the track.

Cannondale can never be accused of being afraid to try new things and it was because of guys like dalton who weren't afraid to push conventional wisdom and also because your bosses let you fly with the ideas!

Close but it was the other way round, the needle bearing structure was first for the headshock, we grew that for the dual crown and always knew it was possible as a single sided unit. ( SS didn't go over well in germany so the name "single sided" became the "lefty") there was one prototype when I got to Ct in 98' a proof of concept but it was 100% the downhill racing effort that made the long travel needle bearings structures work and thus leading to lefty protos in 00'.

If my memory serves me correctly they are Coda (the Cannondale in-house parts brand) Magic Motorcycle cranks. They were two halves of very thin aluminum glued together - if they last more than a few months they would last forever. They were an outboard bearing crank - AFAIK another first.

Those tires are IRC Kujo DH (named after a film about a rabid dog). At the time these tires were the muts nuts - they have a very good pinch-flat resistent sidewall. It wasn't long after that the Maxxis Minions and High Rollers came along and their reign at the top continues to this day.

From the looks of it, those rims are a set of Mavic 321s, which were also the top DH rim of the day until the yellow DeeMax rims came out.

I still have a set of Missiles rolled up and waiting for some kind of retro build, along with my AC Cranks and hubs, 321 rims...
It would have to be for looking at and not riding though, because as cool as those old components are - I'm glad they don't make em like they used to!
Let's just say, the sport has become a lot less expensive in the last 15 years for those of us who are a little hard on our bikes.

My mates been hammering his 321/hope sport wheelset for 12+ years now. Those where the days I used to drool over the bikes in MBUK. I always drempt of having a top class DH i could rip daily, now I've got one I don't get time!

Cloverleaf - good eyes. I just went out to the shed to compare to my mint 321s I haven't had the heart to throw out, and the braking surface gives it away. Missile? Kujos? Come on - the best thing about them was the red sidewall!!

Only this week I've found a home for my 321s on a friend's original Foes Mono DHS that is being built mid-school (I would call the Weasel Old School). I can't wait to build them up on the old Hope hubs I also couldn't throw out.

Back in the day you couldn't buy bikes like this. These bikes were never planned to be sold to the public.

The bike companies were racing prototypes. I know they still do today. But we can get hold of the kit they use within a year or two.

That's what I like about the scene today.

You can go out and buy a Giant, Yeti, Mondraker, Santa Cruz, Kona, Trek, Commencal, Specialized, Nuke Proof or whateverand you know that apart from a few small changes (bit of geo, shocks, colours) its what all the pro's use. FACTORY STOCK.

Back in the day there were little-to-no DH bikes ready off the rack - you bought a frame, forks, brakes, drivetrain etc separately and bolted it all together. And here in Australia that could cost $8-12k. Full-on DH was seen as a tiny market. Only serious racers had such bikes.

Nowadays, every ski resort is a bike park and forests are full of stunts and the Giant Glory 2 is $3000 and lighter, stronger, and better in every way than anything from back in the day. It's not just a quarter of the price, but taking inflation into consideration it is like a sixth of the price. The top Glory is only $5k - an absolute bargain.

too bad cannondale doesnt make nice dh bikes nowadays! was a huge fan off them 10 years ago. allways nice welding and good tube shapes. had i carbon super V 9000 at one time. looked sick,, ride like my granny, yeah i remember, it had a noleen fork on it! can any one remember that. its the kilo fork from now a days, but industructable!!!!

I don't remember exactly how the Karpiel worked, but the important thing with the VPP patent is that one link moves in an anti-clockwise direction and the other moves clockwise. Bikes like a Giant Maestro or a DW-Link have both the links moving in the same direction, so even if the Karpiel did pre-date it and looks similar that doesn't necessarily mean it worked in quite the same way.

The Fulcrum was first shown at Cactus Cup in '97- I was there and got to check it out first hand. It was my understanding most of the riders hated it. Enter the Cannondale Gemini twin shock bike...

Outland had bikes and patents dating before then and the LOOK bike with Fournales air shock with near identical links was out around this time as well (Jean-Pierre Fournales patented the frame design)- I'd have to do some research to see whose patents came first and exactly what they entail. There were also other twin link bikes like the RockShox LTD that Trevor Harris designed (completely different function though.)

Every DW-link bike from Turner and Pivot has a lower link that switches rotation direction. VPP is less about the links and more about how the suspension behaves.

Yep- from what I remember the Outland bikes destroyed pivots like nobody's business. The LOOK bike was pretty much non-existent. The RockShox LTD was a cool design but it was a URT that wasn't really meant for DH racing- Tomac put it to good use though (under the Giant label.) The only other people racing the LTD were the RockShox DEVO team- I remember it being a bike that climbed really well, descended poorly and was relatively fragile as the design was tough to build into a light frame. The LTD was built around '94 and Tomac won on it in '95.

Add a new dh category to races. Bikes 10 yrs or more in age. Sure it would be a novelty, but it would be pretty fun and interesting to see the progression of engineering and design through the years all on one race day.

The first VPP by outland was in 95 , a few years before the c-dale. Outland then redesigned the vpp in 97 to have 6 inches of travel.Then Azonic had a vpp frame , it was a brazed cro,mo . 97 Karpil VRS and then in 98 the cdale came out with the fulcrum. the vpp was designed in Calgary , in your home town PB.also the intense vpp was worked on by another calgary dude.Cow town produced some tallent ( who remembers COGG'S) back in the day , way before DW was riding a bike .

Do you remember the versions with the plastic housing that covered up the brake rotors and other parts susceptible to mud?

And I remember Cannondale putting electronics on their bikes - I think it was so that the suspension could 'learn' the course, and get softer or stiffer depending on which part of the course it was on - e.g. it would get really stiff during pedalling sections. Memory is hazy, but they did put telemetry gear on their bikes at one stage.

I can remember something like that, i think they strapped a black aluminium box to the down tube. Must have collected suspension data etc...Also vaguely remember ELO, Electronic Lock Out. I am sure it was on a dale???. Someone reading this may put a link up..

The only real problem is the massive pump they get when they get hot where you have to keep winding them out all the time. With a decent sized rotor they're actually not too bad. Ok they lack a bit of power compared to brakes these days but the bite adjust made set up a hell of a lot easier than the open systems of the day. Good brakes for their time and still have their uses now. Solid and reliable and pretty bombproof.

Even though this was the first counter-rotating link virtual pivot mountain bike, and thus way proof of prior art to the basic concept, Santa Cruz is still attempting to sue Yeti over violating their rather broad VPP patent (Yeti's SB linkage employs an eccentric pivot that for part of the wheel travel counter-rotates).

Cannondale didn't, they had an even larger steerer actually that was metric (40mm) and that's 1.575", so they were able to adapt their frames to take 1.5 steerer forks easily with simply different bearings for the headsets. Klein used 1" steerer tubes but had oversized headtubes and much larger bearings (exactly what motorcycles use to this day).

My mate had an original silver Super V with the carbon fibre swingarm, it was mounted different from the modern Super V's though, don't think it worked as well. It looked space age at the time when frames were usually all diamond type.

I owned a Giant CFM3 in 1991. The frame was made from carbon tubes glued to aluminium lugs. My first real MTB. Loved it. Only a few years later I had a Trek OCLV that was a monocoque frame. It was so strong I raced DH on that sucker back in the day when if you had a full suspension bike you had to go into the top class. When I finally killed the frame in a crash riding street, I tried to break other parts of the frame and failed. I had to take to it with a hacksaw to get it into the garbage bin.